I need clean WATER....now what??

     If this were to cease to exist today, what are you going to do for clean water for your family??

In Beyond the Strandline the story begins with "civilization" already in tatters. City water and sewer are long gone. Col. Kennedy had prepared on the ranch for long term water solutions. There were streams and water sources on the property, however, these too had problems. They had to solve their problems differently than we do now. (At least for the time being!) Here are some ideas to get you started thinking!

**Do you have a functioning well on your property? Do you share that well with others? (Who would have access to that water?? Can you protect its purity?) Do you have a hand pump or a generator as back-up to make that well function if there is no electricity? 

**Do you keep at least a 72 hr supply in your home? Ready.gov suggests the minimum of 2 gallons, per day, per person. (Water is an inexpensive way to get started preparing. Each trip to the store, pick up a couple gallons.) This gives you one to drink, one to use for hygiene and cooking. Here is an average breakdown for usage in the US: 

· Toilet - 19 gallons per day
· Bathing & hygiene - 15 gallons per day
· Laundry - eight gallons per day
· Kitchen - seven gallons per day
· Housekeeping - one gallon per day 

 **Purifying and Filtering.  Do you know what can sicken and kill people the fastest? Dirty water. There are cheap and easy ways to begin storing items to help you. Bleach. Water purification tablets. Personal water filters. You can research different ways to clean your water. Read up and then go visit some outdoor stores like ProBass and Field and Stream, REI, etc. Many Walmarts carry a good camping section with water filters, etc.

Next up??? Review of different options...for preparing today and for long term solutions.  

THINK: PREP

A great meme from Facebook that sums it up quite nicely.

TOO

Too graphic. Too intense. Too scary. “I don’t even watch the news,” they said. Too sad. It’s some of what I heard from a small handful of readers after sending them an advanced copy of my novel, Beyond the Strandline. 

The novel is set in a dystopian future following a collapse of the power grid after a solar storm. Shew! That’s a mouthful. Put it this way, it’s a future without running water or city halls. NOTE: I have to confess that it is a bit of a head rush to be able to write something that gives people the willies. I won’t lie. 

It’s a story set in a future that looks more like the past . . . and the present in more than a few places around the globe.

Discussing the surprising feedback on the book, a friend of mine, remarked, “What are they reading?”

I’m not sure. But what I am sure of is that one of the purposes of fiction is being able to send a reader to places and to experience things unimaginable in everyday life. It’s a safe way to look into the ‘heart of darkness’ and process ways to survive, cope, or even thrive in a world that might be unrecognizable. Fiction is a window. 

In the book, Tess and her family are surviving and thriving in isolation after the collapse of civilization, living off and on the land. Parrish, a young man who comes to live on their ranch, is a survivor of being forced to fight as a child soldier. The local mall has become a haven for slave traders and tyrants.

Presently, the single greatest health hazard facing the globe is a lack of access to clean water. Tess’s family deals with the problem in several ways. Would you know how to purify water not provided by electricity or the big water tank in the sky?

The United Nations estimates that up to a three hundred thousand children are routinely forced to fight in armed conflicts and wars around the world. Women and children impressed into armies and paramilitary groups are a sure sign that the fabric of a society has blown apart. 

American gangs mimic military organizations in a lot of respects. Seventy-five percent of members of gangs are under the age of eighteen. Child soldiers are already here.

The United Nations estimates that slavery has never been practiced in greater numbers in the history of the world. The slave traders are here.

Europe is dealing with the sight of dead babies washed up on beaches as Middle Eastern refugees flee to Europe to escape the gory truth of what is happening to their civilizations.

Survival is being able to have a positive mental attitude in the face of a potentially horrifying reality. 

Reading fiction can be a dry run—an exercise if you will—before the big . . . challenge. 

BE PREPARED!

http://www.ready.gov/september

You asked and we're going to answer!

WHAT made Colonel Kennedy do what he did? And, WHAT did he do??

We don't know  the time line exactly of Beyond the Strandline, but we have plenty of challenges facing us today. Hopefully, we can gain some knowledge from his wise choices. The following are a few "natural disasters" from the news:

**Hurricanes/Storms/Flooding
**Fires
**Power Outages

How are you prepared for any of these? If you are new to the "Prepper" scene, it can be overwhelming. Here are five areas to begin thinking about:

**Water
**Food
**Shelter
**Light
**Hygiene

We'll share some ideas this month about each of these areas to help you get started or check what you already have stored.

Have specific questions? Let us know in the comments and we'll do our best to help!

Linda & Mindy

WHAT IF?

“It’s a ‘prepper’ novel,” I explained. “Do you know what a prepper is?”

That’s how I start trying to describe my novel, Beyond the Strandline, in the speech that is supposed to last the length of time it takes an elevator to go from up to down—the elevator speech.

Inevitably, a lot of people don’t know what a prepper might be or the act of prepping or grid collapse or even 72-hour kits.

So I try again. “It’s a book about what if.”

Raised eyebrows and polite interest, if I’m lucky, and then I launch into my next explanation.

“What if the lights went out for good and the water stopped flowing? What would the world be like? And what if your family was ready for it? You know, prepared with food storage and emergency plans but the rest of the world wasn’t? And what if your little sister broke the first rule of hiding in plain sight . . .”

Deep forehead wrinkles and some consternation and maybe a question or two and then the elevator doors slide open and the moment passes.

“It’s a juvenile action-adventure, romance . . .”

Got it. That, they understand.

But it’s so much more.

It’s really about how you have to start thinking when it comes to writing a book or in preparing for the future, for that matter. It’s an exercise of the imagination.

What if the lights went out and stayed out and the batteries died and the lamp oil ran out and the moon still waxed and waned as it always has and what if you had to travel through a lonely jungle in the darkest part of the moon and how would you see to put one foot in front of the other and—What would my characters be like; how would they live; how would they cope?

What would I be like? How would I cope?

Imagination. Writing is all about imagining the . . . what if.

So is prepping. It’s a match made in Heaven.

Prepping:  The practice of making active preparations for a possible catastrophic disaster or emergency, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.

So we started a blog, my best friend and I, to talk about things we can only imagine.

It’s like writing a book.

   

READ THE BOOK * START THE CONVERSATION

Juvenile Dystopian Fiction, Page One, Average Customer Reviews, 88% Five Star Reviews . . . because it takes a village of smart readers. Thanks smart readers!!